Throughout one of English history's most tumultuous periods, Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) took part in and reported on nearly every major political, religious, and social controversy. This widely acclaimed biography offers a fascinating account of Defoe's remarkable life. Paula Backscheider reveals new information about Defoe's secret career as a double agent, his daring business ventures, his dangerous pen-and his cat-and-mouse games with those who sought to control it. This is the definitive biography of one of eighteenth-century England's most influential figures-and one of the most prolific and widely read authors of all time

About the Author
Paula Backscheider is the Philpott-Stevens Eminent Scholar in the Department of English at Auburn University. She is the author of several books, including Revising Women: Eighteenth-Century "Women's Fiction" and Social Engagement and Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Reviews
For the first time everything we know about Defoe is presented in a single orderly sequence..A searching study of a complex man, one that is coherent and credible for our times. New York Times Book Review A very considerable work of scholarship, and the first to give this prolific writer the extended treatment he after all deserves. Washington Post Book World Paula Backscheider spins this absorbing narrative with meticulous scholarship and lucidity. Independent on Sunday



Book Information
ISBN 9780801845123
Author Paula R. Backscheider
Format Paperback
Page Count 688
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 998g